Sundance 2021: In The Earth by Ben Wheatley - review

Photo courtesy of Sundance Institute

Ten years after making a big impact with his sophomore feature length film, Kill List (2011), Ben Wheatley has remained a distinctive voice in the British film industry throughout the decade, with a prolific career in which he has experimented with various genres from the very dark comedy of Sightseers (2012), to the mind bending A Field in England (2013), all the way to his glossy remake of Rebecca for Netflix last year.

Last we heard from him he was attached to two blockbusters, the Tomb Raider and The Meg sequels (he has subsequently dropped from the former) so it came as a surprise when it was announced that a film he had directed in secrecy last year, In The Earth, was ready and was to have its world premiere at Sundance.

As the world is in the grip of a deadly pandemic, Martin Lowery (Joel Fry) is on his way to a research site deep in a forest, guided by park scout Alma (Ellora Torchia) when a brutal night time attack leaves them shoeless and at the mercy of the elements and nature, not to mention of an unseen presence seemingly stalking them.

Sundance 2021: Prisoners of the Ghostland by Sion Sono

The announcement that Nicolas Cage was going to star in Sion Sono's new film sent some ripples in the cinephile world, a somehow improbable pairing although considering how the American actor has been willing to experiment more and more in his recent career with Mandy and The Colour out of Space, one that was perhaps not all that surprising. The maverick Japanese director suffered a heart attack during the planning of the film which delayed him but did not stop him and the film had its world premiere at Sundance 2021.

In Prisoners of the Ghostland, a bank robber, Hero (Nicolas Cage) is tasked by The Governor (Bill Moseley) to find his missing adopted daughter Bernice (Sofia Boutella) who is said to be in a wasteland populated by ghosts.

Sundance 2021: Cryptozoo by Dash Shaw - review

Is a Utopia possible? Director Dash Shaw’s newest ambitious animated offering is a dive into a kaleidoscopic world of mythic creatures called Cryptids. It’s the sort of inventive swing that makes Sundance such an exciting festival for showcasing up-and-coming talent. As a follow-up to My Entire High School Sinking Into the Sea Shaw pushes the potentials of animation into intriguing aesthetic and tonal directions. 

The Swarm by Just Philippot - review

French genre cinema is relatively rare these days compared to the heydays of the New French Extremity over ten years ago, with the recent Raw by Julie Ducournau a notable exception. Then along came The Swarm (La Nuée) and the prospect of a French bugs horror was intriguing. 

In The Swarm, widowed mom Virginie (Suliane Brahim) struggles to make a living and support her children in rural France. Her latest project, the breeding of edible grasshoppers, did not deliver the expected yield and brings ridicule to the whole family, especially her teenage daughter who gets bullied at school and who is embarrassed by her mom's unsuccessful and odd endeavour. A chance discovery leads to a reversal of fortune but also comes with a heavy price.

Sundance 2021: Censor by Prano Bailey-Bond

For non British audiences and younger generations, video nasties and the moral hysteria around those might not mean much but it is this interesting and not so proud part of the British film industry history that Prano Bailey-Bond has picked for the background of Censor. Opening with a montage of these infamous films, including some prominent footage of Abel Ferrara's The Driller Killer, we are reminded how opportunistic politicians and moral crusaders whipped up a frenzy at the time, their target a list of films they seldom bothered to watch yet were subsequently banned.

In Censor, Enid (Niamh Algar), is, well, a censor who becomes convinced that there is a connection between a past tragedy in her family and a film she watches in the course of her work. She sets out to investigate and find its elusive director as real life and fiction collide.

The Vast of Night by Andrew Patterson

In the midst of a summer without theaters, promotional tours, and major studio releases, the way we process cinema has taken on a life through different channels. A handful of interesting films have made a splash, but perhaps the most effective recreation of “Movies” as an abstract term is Andrew Patterson’s The Vast of Night, a micro-budgeted retro throwback to The Twilight Zone and the science fiction drive-in films of the 1950s. It’s a close encounters short story that’s imbued with a cinematic creativity born out of necessity. Ironically, so far the film this year that best replicates the feeling of seeing a film communally is a remarkably small one. It’s left me wondering: how do we define cinematic experience now?

Never Rarely Sometimes Always by Eliza Hittman

“Don't let the sun catch you cryin' 

The night's the time for all your tears 

Your heart may be broken tonight 

But tomorrow in the morning light 

Don't let the sun catch you cryin” 

Midway through Eliza Hittman’s quietly devastating new film about a 17 year old girl journeying to New York to get an abortion, the film’s reserved lead character, Autumn (Sidney Flanigan), chooses “Don’t Let the Sun Catch You Crying” by Gerry and the Pacemaker’s as her karaoke song. The camera holds on her as she seemingly sings it to herself. Autumn’s choice and the lyrics act as the film’s thematic anthem and as a gateway into Autumn’s guarded emotions.